Exterior damage is shown on the USS Harry S. Truman following the aircraft carrier’s collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M while operating in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, on Feb. 12, 2025. (Cody Beam/U.S. Navy)

NAPLES, Italy — The commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman has been fired following a collision with a cargo ship near the Suez Canal, the Navy announced Thursday.

Capt. Dave Snowden was relieved of duty on Thursday due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command, the service said in a statement the same day.

Snowden, who had served as the aircraft carrier’s commanding officer since December 2023, will be temporarily assigned to Naval Air Forces Atlantic.

“The U.S. Navy holds commanding officers to the highest standard and takes action to hold them accountable when those standards are not met. Naval leaders are entrusted with significant responsibilities to their sailors and their ships,” the Navy said.

Capt. Christopher Hill, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, will temporarily serve as Truman’s interim commanding officer, the Navy said.

Hill led the Eisenhower during its nine-month extended deployment last year in the Middle East.

The Eisenhower returned from its deployment in July and is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia.

Capt. Dave Snowden, who had served as the U.S. Harry S. Truman’s commanding officer since December 2023, will be temporarily assigned to Naval Air Forces Atlantic. (U.S. Navy)

Snowden’s dismissal comes after Truman was involved in a late-night collision on Feb. 12 with Panama-flagged Besiktas-M in a congested area near the Suez Canal.

The mishap left the carrier with scrapes and gashes along its right back end, including a small slash that penetrated its hull well above the waterline.

There were no injuries, and there was no flooding. Truman’s propulsion system was not damaged, the Navy said at the time. The collision remains under investigation.

But the collision, which is under investigation, damaged a line handling space, the fantail and a platform above a storage space. The exterior walls of two storage rooms and a maintenance space also were included in initial damage assessments.

The ship, along with embarked Carrier Air Wing 1, remains at Naval Support Activity Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete undergoing an extensive structural assessment.

That examination will cover Truman’s hull and bulkheads to ensure they can bear weight. Bulkheads are interior vertical walls that form compartments within a ship.

It’s too soon to say how long the inspection will take and when a comprehensive damage assessment will be available, but the evaluation won’t include Truman’s flight deck, Cmdr. Timothy Gorman, a spokesman for U.S. 6th Fleet, told Stars and Stripes this week.

He noted that the carrier conducted flight operations on Saturday, days after the collision.

According to the Navy, the firing of Snowden will have no impact on the Truman’s deployment schedule in the Mediterranean.

Unless more serious damage is discovered, the carrier could be quickly repaired and soon resume its deployment, analysts told Stars and Stripes this week.

Truman’s absence from the Middle East probably won’t hinder regional U.S. security efforts, which could include a surge in destroyers or other warships, if needed, they said.

The cruiser USS Gettysburg and the destroyer USS Stout, also part of the Truman Carrier Strike Group, are in the Red Sea.

The destroyer USS Jason Dunham, escorting Truman at the time of the collision, remains in the Mediterranean.

Burchett reported from Washington, D.C.