These are a mock-ups of the USS Iowa's Harpoon anti-ship missile launchers. There are lots of photos of them on the 'net, but very few show them this close!

The Iowa class Battleships were back-fitted with Harpoon launchers in 1984, and they received a total of 16 launch tubes --- more Harpoon launchers than any other warship in the world. Though their main guns can dispose of any modern warship in a single salvo, the Harpoon enabled the Iowas to attack a ship more than three times as far away.


The RGM-84 Harpoon is a 1500lb munition with a 500lb warhead, and a range of 75 nautical miles. It flies at about 450mph at a "sea-skimming" altitude, and can be programmed to "pop up" just short of it's target, and plunge down onto it from above (which can confuse a target's air defenses). They cost about $1 Million apiece.

Harpoons are also launched from submarine torpedo tubes and aircraft, but these require different equipment to be added to the munition than the ship-launched version. The performance of this missile is good, but overshadowed by many newer and more devastating anti-ship missiles such as the RBS-15, SS-N-22 Sunburn, CSS-N-8 Saccade, and BrahMos.

Basic information on the Harpoon can be found here;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpoon_%28missile%29


Finally, note that there is an air-launched version of the Harpoon for use against ground targets rather than ships (called the AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile, or "SLAM"). I don't know if there's a ship-launched version of this missile, though.