Francis M. Bunce (25 December 1836 – 19 October 1901) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy who distinguished himself as a junior officer during the American Civil War (1861–1865).

Promoted to passed midshipman on 25 June 1860, he reported aboard the sloop-of-war USS Brooklyn, which was engaged in supporting a scientific expedition surveying a route across the Isthmus of Panama in the Chiriquí area.

On 7 January 1862, he transferred to the frigate USS Macedonian of the Gulf Squadron, involved in enforcing the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America.

Bunce disembarked from Penobscot to command a group of boats that made a successful expedition up the Little River, destroying several schooners, an extensive salt works, and large amounts of cotton, turpentine, and resin.

Promoted to lieutenant commander on 10 January 1863 while aboard Pawnee, he oversaw the sounding, buoying, and removal of obstructions that winter in interior channels between Stono River and Morris Island in the outer reaches of Charleston Harbor.

Bunce commanded the naval portion of the attack on Morris Island that resulted in its capture except for its northern tip, which was controlled by Confederate Fort Wagner.

In November 1863, Bunce suffered injuries when a cartridge detonated prematurely in a gun turret aboard Patapsco while she was in action against Confederate forces.

On 14 May 1864, he was detached from the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and ordered north, and on 26 September 1864 he reported aboard the monitor USS Dictator under the command of Commodore John Rodgers.

Dictator cruised off the United States East Coast from December 1864 through the end of the American Civil War in April 1865 and until decommissioning on 5 September 1865.

With this completed, he detached from Dictator on 4 October 1869 and on 12 November 1869 took command of the newly commissioned North Atlantic Squadron screw steamer USS Nantasket, stationed at Samaná Bay, Santo Domingo.

After service as the Senior Member of the Board on Timber Preservation for Naval Purposes, he became the first commanding officer of the new protected cruiser USS Atlanta on 1 June 1886, just a few weeks prior to her commissioning on 19 July 1886.

[5] As soon as he took command, Bunce set about building upon Meade's work, conducting tactical exercises in the Atlantic Ocean between August and November 1895 both off New England during the squadron's annual social visit to ports there and during its voyages south to Tompkinsville on Staten Island, New York, and on to Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Bunce continued to exercise the squadron at sea off Virginia, and gradually sent his ships into various navy yards for refits in the winter and spring of 1896 in order to keep them ready for any operations against Spain.

Not only did this "blockade" of Charleston require more detailed staff work to arrange logistical support for the ships involved than had been customary previously in the U.S. Navy, it also marked the first time in history that the North Atlantic Squadron practiced offensive operations in enemy waters rather than focusing strictly on the defense of the coast of the United States.

[12] Discussing the U.S. Navy's handling of battleships at sea, Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans wrote in 1901, "We had mastered it in the only way possible of seamen – by constant work and practice out on the blue water.