USS Water Witch was a steamer designed and constructed by the U.S. Navy with an experimental propulsion system that never quite worked, the Hunter wheel.

However, its unique, but poorly conceived, Hunter Wheel propulsion system caused it to fail in that mission as well.

In order to rid steamers of their vulnerable above-water paddle wheel housings and to increase their broadside weight, Lt. W. W. Hunter had devised and patented a system of placing the wheels inside the hull of the ship at a right angle to the keel making their rotations horizontal rather than vertical.

Its modifications there were so extensive that, in spite of the fact that it retained its name, the new creation is regarded as a second, distinct ship—USS Water Witch (1847).

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.