Named for the constellation, Aquila ("Eagle")[citation needed] was laid down on 10 July 1979 at Seattle, Washington, by Boeing Marine Systems; launched on 16 September 1981; sponsored by Mrs. John D. Bulkeley, the wife of Rear Admiral John D. Bulkeley, World War II, PT-boat hero; and commissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on 26 June 1982.

Aquila got underway from Bremerton, Washington, on 15 July 1982 in company with Taurus (PHM-3) and Frederick (LST-1184) and shaped a course for her home port, Key West, Florida.

The warship spent the remainder of 1982 conducting shakedown and other training out of her base at the Trumbo Point Annex, Naval Air Station, Key West, Florida.

[citation needed] Holiday leave and upkeep ended early in January 1984, and Aquila reembarked upon normal operations out of her base at Key West.

In May, the guided-missile hydrofoil gunboat added another duty to her busy training schedule, helping the Coast Guard to interdict the traffic in illicit drugs.

The two warships returned to Key West at the end of the first week in November, and Aquila resumed her program of training missions and drug traffic interdiction.

Immediately thereafter, Aquila joined in another exercise, Operation "Ocean Venture 86," that simulated an attack on an enemy fleet attempting to force the Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico.

[citation needed] In April 1991, The USS Aquila hit a whale that suddenly breached in front of PHM-4 while she was flying on her foils in the Straits of Florida.