Krokstedt was born on 12 October 1908 in Grötlingbo, Sweden, the son of Axel Krokstedt, a sea captain, and Sigrid. He had an older sister, Astrid Krokstedt, who was first ombudsman in the Swedish Nurses’ Association, and two younger ones, Signe Olga Hermanna, and Karin Sigrid Elisabeth. Krokstedt passed studentexamen in Visby in 1926 and came to the Swedish Navy as a sea cadet in 1927 and was later platoon leader in the Cabin Boy Corps in Karlskrona. This gave him a large number of sailing summers on the corps's ships af Chapman, and Jarramas. He was commissioned as a naval officer in the Swedish Navy in 1930 with the rank of Fänrik and was promoted to Underlöjtnant in 1932 and to Sub-lieutenant in 1934. Krokstedt served at the Stockholm Naval Station in 1936 and attended the staff course at the Royal Swedish Naval Staff College from 1938 to 1939 and was posted to the Naval Staff as a section chief in from 1946 to 1947. Krokstedt was a teacher at the Royal Swedish Army Staff College from 1946 to 1949 and promoted to Commander of the 2nd rank in 1948 and of the 1st rank in 1953. Over the years, Krokstedt served great deal of time on warships, commanding patrol boats, minesweepers and destroyers. He also served several years as flag adjutant, as second-in-command of the during the winter long journey from 1950 to 1951 and as commander of during its first long journey from 1953 to 1954. Krokstedt attended the Swedish National Defence College from 1954 to 1955 and served as head of the Naval Department of the Defence Staff from 1954 to 1957. In 1957 he was promoted to Captain and served as a naval attaché in London and The Hague from 1957 to 1960. Krokstedt was head of Section II of the Defence Staff from 1960 to 1961 and was promoted to rear admiral the same year. He was then posted as Acting Chief of the Naval Staff in 1961 and then as Chief of the Naval Staff from 1962 to 1964. Krokstedt served as head of the Swedish National Defence College from 1964 to 1966 and as military commander of the Western Military District from 1966 to 1968. He was promoted to Vice Admiral in 1968 and served as military commander of the Southern Military District from 1968 to 1972. Krokstedt postings as military commander meant that he, as the first naval officer, got to command not only naval units but also considerable armies and air force units. Krokstedt retired from active service in 1972.
Later career
When Krokstedt retired, he fulfilled a dream by studying Swedish literary science at Stockholm University at an academic level. When he was done with this with good results, Evert Taube had recently died. He now spent a lot of time rewriting "Evert Taube och sjömansvisan". At the commemoration in May 1984 of the af Chapman, former quartermaster Krokstedt was the one who, under salute, boarded the now hostel and received the eleven jubilant crews. Krokstedt was Inspector Emeriti of the naval academy association SjöLund. He was also a member of the Swedish Society for Maritime History.
Personal life
In 1932, he married Ingrid Ljungberg, the daughter of Wilhelm Ljungberg and Anna. They had one sone, Lars Krokstedt, CEO of AB Alfort & Cronholm from 1973 to 1981, and CEO of Svenska Egmont AB from 1981, and the daughters Lisen Gylden and Briten Krokstedt.
