The ship line uses info from descr_ship.txt, and the header of that file has quite a bit of info on various ship types. It seems that CA was trying to make naval battles a litlle more complicated than they are, but they abandoned the effort. I will try to find time to get some testing done on naval battles, but I don't know how soon - I'll update the Guide when the info is enough and adequately tested.

And welcome on the forums!