Sub Commander Removed Over Collision

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Navy on Monday relieved a submarine commander of his duties three weeks after his vessel collided with a Japanese oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.

Cmdr. Matthew A. Weingart was removed because of "a lack of confidence in his ability to command," according to a statement the Navy issued Monday.

The USS Newport News, a nuclear-powered submarine, rear-ended the supertanker Mogamigawa Jan. 8 in the 34-mile-wide Straits of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's oil supplies travel.

No one was injured in the accident.

The submarine will return to the United States after undergoing temporary repairs in Bahrain. Legal and safety investigations are in progress, according to the Navy statement.

The Newport News is based in Norfolk, Va., and is part of a U.S.-led multinational task force patrolling the Persian Gulf and nearby seas. It has a crew of 127.