The RN Aquila was laid down in Naples as Vifor for the Romanian Navy on 11 March 1914. After the outbreak of WWI, she and her sister ships were seized by Italy in May 1915; she was completed and launched as scout cruiser RN Aquila on 26 July 1916, and assigned to the 3°Gruppo Esploratori of the 4th Division, reporting to the Superior Naval Command at Brindisi. Her first action took place on 15 May 1917, taking part in a battle together with other Italian and British vessels against 3 Austro-Hungarian Novara-class scout cruisers and accompanying ships, during which she was hit by a shell from destroyer Csepel and immobilised. In the last months of WWI, she was also used as a support unit for the bombardment of Durazzo. On 14 September 1922, she was taken to the Arsenal in Naples and later to the Castellammare di Stabia shipyards for work. On 11 October 1937, she was secretly handed over to the Spanish Nationalist Navy and renamed Melilla.

Introduced in Update "Fire and Ice", RN Aquila shines in her use of 152 mm guns and AP shells at a low battle rating. Her armament is quite good against enemy destroyers, but she lacks the anti-aircraft armament to be effective against aerial targets. Her manoeuvrability and speed is decent, but her survivability is poor with minimal armour.