The Men - U-boat Commanders

Georg Staats

Kapitänleutnant (Crew 35)


Successes
14 ships sunk, total tonnage 74,087 GRT

Born  13 Mar 1916 Bremen
Died  12 Nov 1943(27)Bay of Biscay


Kapitänleutnant Georg Staats

Ranks

5 Apr 1935 Offiziersanwärter
25 Sep 1935 Seekadett
1 Jul 1936 Fähnrich zur See
1 Jan 1938 Oberfähnrich zur See
1 Apr 1938 Leutnant zur See
1 Oct 1939 Oberleutnant zur See
1 Apr 1942 Kapitänleutnant

Decorations

28 Aug 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
28 Aug 1940 U-boat War Badge 1939
9 Jan 1943 Iron Cross 1st Class
14 Jul 1943 Knights Cross

U-boat Commands

U-boatFromTo
U-80 8 Apr 1941 5 Oct 1941   No war patrols 
U-508 20 Oct 1941 12 Nov 1943  (+)  6 patrols (294 days) 

Georg Staats began his naval career in April 1935. He served on the light cruiser Karlsruhe and the battle cruiser Gneisenau before transferring to the U-boat force in April 1939. He served in 1939 and 1940 as watch officer on U-5 and U A. In April 1941 he commissioned the type VIIC boat U-80 and commanded this school boat until October 1941.

Fourteen days after leaving U-80 he commissioned the much larger type IXC boat U-508. He led her on six successful patrols in the North Atlantic, as well as in Caribbean and west African waters.

Georg Staats was lost with the entire crew of U-508 when the boat was sunk on 12 November 1943 in the Bay of Biscay north of Cape Ortegal, Spain by bombs from an American B-24 Liberator aircraft (Niestlé, 1998).

Sources

Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1999). German U-boat commanders of World War II.
Busch, R. and Röll, H-J. (1997). Der U-Bootkrieg 1939-1945 (Band 2).
Niestlé, A. (1998). German U-boat losses during World War II.

Patrol info for Georg Staats

 U-boat Departure Arrival  
1. U-508 25 Jun 1942  Kiel  15 Sep 1942  Lorient  Patrol 1,83 days
2. U-508 17 Oct 1942  Lorient  6 Jan 1943  Lorient  Patrol 2,82 days
3. U-508 22 Feb 1943  Lorient  15 Mar 1943  Lorient  Patrol 3,22 days
4. U-508 29 May 1943  Lorient  31 May 1943  Lorient  Patrol 4,3 days
5. U-508 7 Jun 1943  Lorient  14 Sep 1943  Lorient  Patrol 5,100 days
6. U-508 1 Nov 1943  Lorient  3 Nov 1943  St. Nazaire   3 days
7. U-508 9 Nov 1943  St. Nazaire  12 Nov 1943  Sunk  Patrol 6,4 days
6 patrols, 294 days at sea

Ships hit by Georg Staats

Date U-boat Name of ship Tons Nat. Convoy
12 Aug 1942U-508 Manzanillo1,025cuSpecCon-12
12 Aug 1942U-508 Santiago de Cuba1,685cuSpecCon-12
7 Nov 1942U-508 Nathaniel Hawthorne7,176amTAG-19
7 Nov 1942U-508 Lindenhall5,248brTAG-19
17 Nov 1942U-508 City of Corinth5,318br
27 Nov 1942U-508 Clan Macfadyen6,191br
28 Nov 1942U-508 Empire Cromwell5,970br
1 Dec 1942U-508 Trevalgan5,299br
2 Dec 1942U-508 City of Bath5,079br
3 Dec 1942U-508 Solon II4,561br
9 Dec 1942U-508 Nigerian5,423br
 
9 Jul 1943U-508 De la Salle8,400brST-71
9 Jul 1943U-508 Manchester Citizen5,343brST-71
18 Jul 1943U-508 Incomati7,369br
 74,087

14 ships sunk (74,087 tons).

Legend
We have a picture of this vessel.


About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.

Men who sank over 50,000 tons

Media links


German U-boat Commanders of World War II
Busch, Rainer and Röll, Hans-Joachim

Listing of all U-boat commanders


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