In addressing the issue of gradually attenuating amplitude of underwater acoustic signals received by hydrophones, this paper presents a feedforward digital automatic gain control (AGC) system based on a table lookup method. This approach reduces significant computational load associated with logarithmic operations, multiplication, and floating-point arithmetic.The system was simulated using MATLAB software, and the results indicate that, compared to the commonly used binary search-based digital AGC systems, the feedforward digital AGC system based on the table lookup method exhibits faster control speed, smoother output signals, and a noticeable reduction in signal transients. Finally, a comparative validation of the two algorithms was conducted on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), confirming the applicability and outstanding performance of the feedforward digital AGC system based on the table lookup method in practical engineering applications.