Jake,
Have you found out what Paul Allen was originally looking for? I checked several links and there was very little detail on the Search.
Based on the original US Navy records there are a quite a few USN ships in that same area including Vincennes, Astoria, DeHaven, Laffey and Blue. HMAS Canberra is also close by, located sightly south east of Savo Island. This could make for some interesting reading. A nice Documentary might stir up some modeling enthusiasm too.
Nino