In this study the authors investigate the information theoretical limits on the performance of point-to-point single-carrier acoustic systems over frequency-selective underwater channels with intersymbol interference. Under the assumptions of sparse and frequency-selective Rician fading channel and non-white correlated Gaussian ambient noise the authors derive an expression for channel capacity and demonstrate the dependency on channel parameters such as the number location and power delay profile of significant taps as well as environmental parameters such as distance temperature salinity pressure and depth. Then the authors use this expression to determine the optimal carrier frequency input signalling and bandwidth for capacity maximisation.