in the Civil Division of the Order of the Bath. In 1849 Lyons was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Confederated States of the Swiss Cantons and was on 14 January 1850 promoted to rear-admiral of the Royal Navy, and was in 1851 appointed minister at Stockholm, at which his wife died. Second-in-command of Mediterranean Fleet In November 1853, with the advocacy of Sir James Graham, Lyons returned to active service in the Royal Navy, and was appointed second in command of the British Mediterranean Fleet, and was granted a pension of £900 per annum for his diplomatic service. Lyons left England for the Dardanelles, as Rear-Admiral of the White, on board the steam frigate HMS Terrible on 5 November 1853, before he then took command of his flagship, the new screw-steam ship-of-the-line (91 guns). Crimean War: maverick nature and private correspondences Sir James Graham Lyons maintained secret private correspondence with the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir James Graham, whose plans for an amphibious assault on Sevastopol Lyons advocated at the Allied Counsels of War between July and August 1854, despite the policy his immediate superior, Vice-Admiral Dundas. Lyons also maintained direct private correspondences with various Cabinet ministers, and published memos to the British public, in The Times newspaper, through its reporters such as John Delane, and Austen Henry Layard, and William Howard Russell, in which he criticised the policies of Admiral Dundas, who disliked Lyons's wilful independence. However, Dundas's superiors within the Navy preferred Lyons, whom they considered to be the more competent and the more charismatic, and encouraged Lyons's independence, by private correspondence and plans, such as those for the assault on Sevastopol, of which officers between Sir James Graham and Lyons in rank, such as Dundas, were not aware. Both the English Fleet and the French Fleet zealously commended Lyons's 'skill and boldness' during the Crimean War. Lyons's white-blonde hair became identified with his maverick temerity. Lyons's hair was similar to the hair of Nelson, whom Lyons idolized. However, Lyons did not possess the strategic intelligence of Nelson and attained his victories, such as the destruction of Fort Marrack (see above) and the attack on Sevastopol (see below), by temerity rather than by meticulous planning. Lyons disliked paperwork: when Admiral Dundas ordered him to organize transports for the invasion of the Crimea, Lyons immediately employed a subordinate, his flag captain William Mends, to do it for him.