Walden Lee "Pug" Ainsworth (November 10, 1886 – August 7, 1960) was an admiral of the United States Navy. For his role in commanding destroyer and cruiser task forces in the Pacific during World War II, he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit. Early life and career Ainsworth was born on November 10, 1886, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He entered the United States Naval Academy on June 21, 1906, and graduated on June 3, 1910. Following successive two-year tours at sea in the battleship and in transport , he shifted to the battleship during the spring of 1914, just in time to act as the adjutant of one of the battalions that landed at Veracruz, Mexico, on April 21. Upon the successful completion of that operation, he returned to Florida and served in her until sent to the transport in May 1917. During the participation of the United States in World War I, he served in transports DeKalb and . During the last months of the conflict, he found himself in the armored cruiser Frederick. Interwar assignments In February 1919, the young officer went to Charleston, West Virginia, for two years as inspector of ordnance at the Navy's Armor and Projectile Plant before returning to sea as executive officer of the transport . Then, after a brief stint holding the same post in the light cruiser , he commanded the destroyer for a year before becoming inspector of ordnance at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 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 the destroyer , but left the ship 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 1930–1931 academic year, Ainsworth returned to sea in the battleship to serve as that ship's navigator. Next came a tour in heavy cruiser and one as communication officer for the 14th Naval District before he reported to the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island, for the senior course. In June 1936, Ainsworth became the executive officer of the battleship and, two years later, he became Professor