The wreckage of the USS Lexington was found by the team’s research vessel, the R/V Petrel, about 3,000m (two miles) below the surface and more than 500 miles (800km) off the eastern coast of Australia on Sunday.
The team released pictures and video of the wreckage of the Lexington – one of the first ever US aircraft carriers – and some of the planes that went down by its side.
A very well-preserved aircraft, bearing the five-pointed star insignia of the US Army Air Forces on its wings and fuselage, was discovered on the seabed.
An emblem of the cartoon character Felix the Cat was found on another aircraft alongside four miniature Japanese flags assumed to represent “kills”.
Additional photos and video released by the search team shows parts of the ship – including a nameplate and anti-aircraft guns – covered in decades of unidentified sea matter.
The Lexington and another carrier, the USS Yorktown, fought against three Japanese aircraft carriers from the 4th to 8th of May, 1942.
The Battle of the Coral Sea was the the first between carriers.
The badly-blighted Lexington, which was nicknamed “Lady Lex”, was deliberately sunk by another US warship when of the battle ceased.
More than 200 members of the crew died in the battle but most were rescued by other US vessels before the Lexington was scuttled.
Admiral Harry Harris, Head of the US military’s Pacific Command (Pacom) and son of one of the sailors evacuated, paid tribute to the successful research effort yesterday.
He said: “As the son of a survivor of the USS Lexington, I offer my congratulations to Paul Allen and the expedition crew of Research Vessel (R/V) Petrel for locating the ‘Lady Lex’, sunk nearly 76 years ago at the Battle of Coral Sea.
“We honour the valor and sacrifice of the ‘Lady Lex’s’ Sailors – and all those Americans who fought in World War II – by continuing to secure the freedoms they won for all of us.”
The Lexington was carrying 35 aircraft when it sunk.
The search team said that 11 planes had been found thus far, including Douglas TBD-1 Devastators, Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlesses and Grumman F4F-3 Wildcats.
Search teams led by Allen have discovered the wreckage of a number of historic warships.
Last year, Vulcan discovered the wreck of a Second World War heavy cruiser – the ‘USS Indianapolis’ – 72 years after it was sunk by a Japanese submarine.