USS Western World (1856) was a ship acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries. Western World—a screw steamer built in 1856 at Brooklyn, New York—was purchased by the Navy on 21 September 1861 at New York City from S. Schuyler; and commissioned on 3 January 1862 at the New York Navy Yard, Acting Master Samuel B. Gregory in command.