[1] Cederström became a petty officer (arklimästare) at the Admiralty on 3 August 1779 and was promoted to second lieutenant on 5 June 1781.

[1] He distinguished himself during the Russo-Swedish War when he conducted a successful expedition to Rogervik (17 March 1790) as the commander of a small squadron of two frigates and a few brigs,[2] where timber to a Russian archipelago fleet and much other military equipment was destroyed.

[3] He was appointed commanding officer of the High Seas Navy (Örlogsflottan) on 6 April 1801 and was three days later promoted to rear admiral.

[2] Cederström was promoted to vice admiral on 29 June 1809 and he was military commander of Gotland from 13 August 1810 to 24 September 1811.

Cederström became minister (statsråd) on 8 August 1815 and the Governor of Stockholm and acting chancellor of the Royal War Academy on 30 July 1816.

He received the title Count on 11 May 1819 and was promoted to överamiral on 1 June 1820 and was appointed Lord of the Realm on 5 November 1821.

Cederström was promoted to general admiral and was appointed commanding officer of the Naval Artillery Regiment (Sjöartilleriregementet) on 7 October 1823.

[2] On this post, he was the victim of many attacks from parliament and the press side for dubious economic trades of warships from the navy, which led to his resignation in 1828 "at the end of his brilliant career".