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Walden Lee Ainsworth -- born 10 November 1886 in Minneapolis, MN -- entered the Naval Academy on 21 June 1906 and graduated on 3 June 1910. Following successive two-year tours at sea in IOWA (Battleship No. 24) and in transport PRAIRIE, he shifted to FLORIDA (Battleship No. 30) during the Spring of 1914, just in time to act as the adjutant of one of the battalions that landed at Veracruz, Mexico on 21 April 1914. Upon the successful completion of that operation, he returned to FLORIDA and served in her until sent to DEKALB in May 1917. During the participation of the United States in World War I, he served in transports DEKALB (Id.No. 3010) and in AMERICA (Id.No.3006). During the last months of the war, he found himself in FREDERICK (Armored Cruiser No.8).In February 1919, the young officer went to Charlestown, WV for two years as Inspector of Ordnance at he Navy's Armor and Projectile Plant before returning to sea as Executive Officer of the transport HANCOCK (AP-3). Then, after a brief stint holding the same post in the light cruiser BIRMINGHAM (CL2), he commanded the destroyer MARCUS (DD321) for a year before becoming Inspector of Ordnance at Pittsburgh, PA. In August 1924, orders sent him to the New York Navy Yard.
By the end of 1925, Ainsworth's growing stature in the field of ordnance won him the position of Gunnery Officer on the staff of the Commander, Destroyer Squadrons, Asiatic Fleet. In July 1927, he took command of PAUL JONES (DD 230), but left that destroyer late in the Summer of 1928 to begin three years at the Naval Academy as an instructor in the Department of Navigation. At the end of the 1930-31 academic year, Ainsworth returned to sea in IDAHO (BB 42) to serve as that battleship's navigator. Next came a tour in heavy cruiser PENSACOLA (CA 24) and one as Communications Officer for the 14th Naval District before he reported to the Naval War College at Newport, RI for the senior course. In June 1936, Ainsworth became the Executive Officer of MISSISSIPPI (BB 41) and, two years later, he became Professor of Naval Science and Tactics at Tulane University in New Orleans.
World War II in Europe was almost two years old when he took command of Destroyer Squadron TWO on 22 July 1940, and the United States had just entered that war when he returned to MISSISSIPPI as her Commanding Officer on 19 December 1941. Ainsworth promptly took his veteran battleship to the Pacific to strengthen the Navy's surface force in that theater.
On 4 July 1942, Ainsworth took administrative command of all Pacific Fleet destroyers. On 10 December of that year, Admiral Halsey gave him the additional duty of commanding Task Force 67 which had been badly mauled in the recent Battle of Tassafaronga. Under his dynamic leadership that cruiser destroyer force was soon winning renown as the "Ainsworth Express" for its fierce fighting in support of the final drive to push Japanese troops off Guadalcanal. Its bombardment of the new Japanese air base at Munda on the island of New Georgia would be, in the words of naval historian Samuuel Eliot Morison, "...long regarded as a model for naval gunnery...".
Transferred to command of Task Force 18 and Cruiser Division NINE, Ainsworth continued his success during a prolonged series of runs up the long, narrow body of water between the central Solomon Islands which American bluejackets had nicknamed "The Slot". These operations parried the thrusts by Japanese warships challenging Allied control of the area. At the end of June, the tempo of American fighting in the southwestern Pacific increased since the Navy had finally managted to assemble enough amphibious shipping in that theater to resume the offensive. On the night of 4-5 July 1943, Task Force 18 moved up the Slot and bombarded Japanese positions at Vila on Kolombangara and at Baiko on New Georgia. The next afternoon, while Ainsworth's force was retiring from this action, word reached him that a large Japanese force was heading toward the Slot. In an effort to meet and check this new threat, his warships again reversed course and headed toward the enemy. Ainsworth's "...outstanding leadership, brilliant tactics and courageous conduct..." in the ensuing Battle of Kula Gulf won him a Navy Cross. He also received the Distinguished Service Medal for his overall performance in the southwestern Pacific.
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In the summer of 1944, Ainsworth was awarded the his first Legion of Merit Medal for "...exceptionally meritorious conduct..." while commanding the fire support group during operations which recaptured Guam. Finally, he received a second Legion of Merit for his desplay of "...exceptional ability and aggressiveness in handling the organization and administration of the cruisers, destroyers, destroyer escorts, and patrol frigates of the Pacific Fleet".
After returning to the United States in the Summer of 1945, Vice Admiral Ainsworth commanded the Fifth Naval District until retiring on 1 December 1948. He died in Washington D.C. on 7 August 1960 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetary with full military honors.
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