Lord Raglan and the army Furthermore, Lyons's charisma made him a favourite of the Army General Lord Raglan, with whom he maintained another private correspondence. The friendship between Lyons and Raglan was productive of an inter-service rapport during the Crimean War and Lyons served as an intermediary between the Navy and the Army. When Lyons captured Balaklava, he advised Raglan to adopt it as the base for the British Army: Raglan did so. However, this was a poor decision because it compelled the army to suffer the Crimean winter. Although he was a Naval Commander, Lyons led a force during the diversionary attack on Sevastopol on 17 October 1854. Idiosyncratically, Lyons ignored Admiral Dundas's orders to remain disengaged and proceeded to attack on his own initiative: on this occasion, however, Lyons's attack was unsuccessful and the ships were damaged and heavy casualties sustained. However, although the attack failed, Lyons was praised for his bravery by the High Command. Lyons conceded that he was responsible for the failure, but the High Command blamed Dundas for the failure, dismissed Dundas, and, in January 1855, made Lyons Commander-in-Chief. Lyons continued to work productively with Raglan to improve supply arrangements in the Bosphorus and at Balaklava. Lyons secured another diplomatic triumph when he secured, in May 1855, French consent to capture of Kerch and occupation of the Sea of Azov: this operation destroyed the logistic support of the Russian army in the Crimea and enabled the allied victory. Later Crimean War In June 1855, Lyons lost both his own son, Edmund, a Captain in the Royal Navy, who had been wounded in a night attack on Sevastopol, and his friend and colleague Lord Raglan. Lyons after the defeat of Sevastopol led a successful expedition, which was the first military action to involve armoured warships, to capture Kinburn on 17 October 1855, which enabled access to the Bug and Dnieper rivers. In July 1855, Lyons, who had already received the honour of Knight Grand Cross of the Civil Division of the Order of the Bath, received the honour of Knight Grand Cross of the Military Division of the same order. He is one of few persons to have attained the rank of Knight Grand Cross in both divisions of the Order of the Bath. Lyons attended the January 1856 allied Council of War at Paris, and subsequent to the Treaty of Paris he relinquished his