Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He and the entire crew of U-508 were killed in the Bay of Biscay north of Cape Ortegal by depth charges from a United States Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber. Staats was born on 13 March 1916 in Bremen.
He was appointed Seekadett (midshipman) on 25 September 1935 and completed his training on the light cruiser Karlsruhe and the battleship Gneisenau.
He was transferred to the U.boat force in April 1939 as an Leutnant zur Secretary In 1939 and 1940 he served as watch officer of U-5 and U-A. Ships attacked As a U-boat commander of U-508 Staats is credited with the sinking of 14 merchant ships for a total of 74,087 gross register tons (GRT).
Bibliography.