USS Briarcliff (IX-3), an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy of that name.

A wooden-hulled freighter, she was constructed in 1919 at Portland, Maine, by the Russell Shipbuilding Company for the United States Shipping Board (USSB).

Since she had neither engines nor boilers, she served as a floating armory and training vessel for the 33rd Fleet Militia at the Tompkinsville section of Staten Island, Pier 8.

That duty lasted until 25 November 1938 when she sank at her moorings as a result of a rotting hull.

Her memory lives on as the name of a chapter of the NAVAL ENLISTED RESERVE ASSOCIATION, an organization of veterans of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.