Eight ships of the United States Navy have been named USS Hornet, after the stinging insect.

The seventh USS Hornet (CV-8) of the United States Navy was a Yorktown class aircraft carrier of World War II, notable for launching the Doolittle Raid, as a participant in the Battle of Midway, and for action in the Solomons before being irreparably damaged in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

The first USS Hornet was a merchant sloop chartered from Captain William Stone in December 1775 to serve under Stone as a unit of Esek Hopkins' Fleet.

The third USS Hornet was a brig-rigged sloop of war in the United States Navy.

The USS Hornet was the first steam-propelled iron side-wheeled Navy ship, and the fifth ship to bear the name Hornet. She was originally a Confederate blockade runner, Lady Sterling built at Blackwall, England in 1864. She was badly damaged and captured on October 28, 1864 off Wilmington, North Carolina.

The sixth USS Hornet was a gunboat in the United States Navy.