Oscar Krokstedt

Nils Oscar Jakob Krokstedt (12 October 1908 – 13 December 1985) was a Swedish Navy vice admiral. His senior commands include Chief of the Naval Staff, head of the Swedish National Defence College and military commander of the Western Military Area and the Southern Military Area.

Military career
Krokstedt was born in Grötlingbo, Sweden, the son of Axel Krokstedt, a sea captain, and Sigrid (née Söderström). He had an older sister, Astrid Krokstedt (1906–1981), who was first ombudsman in the Swedish Nurses’ Association (Svensk sjuksköterskeförening), and two younger ones, Signe Olga Hermanna (1910–1932), and Karin Sigrid Elisabeth (born 1917). 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 (Skeppsgossekåren) in Karlskrona. This gave him a large number of sailing summers on the corps's ships af Chapman, HSWMS Najaden (1897) 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 (Löjtnant) in 1934. Krokstedt served at the Stockholm Naval Station (Stockholms örlogsstation) 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 HSWMS Gotland (1933) during the winter long journey from 1950 to 1951 and as commander of HSWMS Älvsnabben (M01) 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 (Kommendör) 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 Area from 1966 to 1968. He was promoted to Vice Admiral in 1968 and served as military commander of the Southern Military Area 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 (Sjöhistoriska samfundet).

Personal life
In 1932, he married Ingrid Ljungberg (born 1909), the daughter of Wilhelm Ljungberg and Anna (née Häggström). They had one sone, Lars Krokstedt (born 1934), CEO of AB Alfort & Cronholm (today Alcro) from 1973 to 1981, and CEO of Svenska Egmont AB from 1981, and the daughters Lisen Gylden and Briten Krokstedt.

Dates of rank

 * 1930 – Acting sub-lieutenant (Fänrik)
 * 1932 – Underlöjtnant
 * 1934 – Sub-lieutenant (Löjtnant)
 * 1941 – Lieutenant (Kapten)
 * 1948 – Commander of the 2nd rank (Kommendörkapten 2:a graden)
 * 1953 – Commander of the 1st rank (Kommendörkapten 1:a graden)
 * 1957 – Captain (Kommendör)
 * 1961 – Rear admiral
 * 1968 – Vice admiral

Awards and decorations

 * Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword (6 June 1968)
 * Knight of the Order of Vasa
 * Commander of the ColAPO
 * Officer of the Order of Naval Merit
 * Knight of the Order of the German Eagle

Honours

 * Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (1960)
 * Honorary member of the Royal Swedish Society of Naval Sciences (1961)
 * Honorary member of Flottans Mäns riksförening
 * Honorary member of Flottans Mäns Gotland