The US Navy has stripped the captain of its “supercarrier” USS Harry S Truman after it crashed into a ship near Egypt last week admitting it had “a loss of confidence in his ability.”

Captain Dave Snowden was captain of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier when it was involved in a collision at sea with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt last Wednesday. It did not result in flooding or injuries aboard the carrier, and there was no damage to the ship’s propulsion systems, the US Navy said.

However, Snowden has now been “relieved” of his duties of being captain of the USS Harry S. Truman and and temporarily reassigned following the crash. “The U.S. Navy holds commanding officers to the highest standard and takes action to hold them accountable when those standards are not met,” the Navy said in a statement.

Captain Christopher Hill, currently commanding officer of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, has been appointed as interim officer of Harry S. Truman until a replacement is found, according to the US Navy.

Snowden, who had been captain of the supercarrier since December 2023, has a background in Aerospace engineering and “flying combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan,” his military biography states. Pictures from the crash showed damages to parts of its exterior, storage room wall and maintenance area.

According to the US Navy, the USS Harry S. Truma is the ninth nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The ship was launched on September 13, 1996 and was named after the 33rd president of the United States.

“Damage assessed includes the exterior wall of two storage rooms and a maintenance space,” wrote U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa in a social media post last week. “External to the ship, damage assessed includes a line handling space, the fantail, and the platform above one of the storage spaces.”

“While the ship is fully mission capable and the ship conducted flight operations following the collision, pulling into port for emergent repairs will enable the ship to continue deployment as scheduled,” said Dave Snowden, the ship’s commanding officer,said in a statement following the crash.

Get email updates with the day’s biggest stories