USS William Badger was a whaler acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

William Badger—a wooden-hulled whaling ship—was purchased by the Union Navy on 18 May 1861 from Henry F. Thomas, at New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, William Badger served as a stationary supply ship at Hampton Roads, Virginia, into the summer of 1862.

She remained there as a supply hulk for the remainder of the Civil War and, on occasion, served as an accommodations vessel.

James Abel, William Badger may have been broken up shortly thereafter, as she is not carried on mercantile lists in succeeding years.