Ricimer raised an army and navy from the Germanic mercenaries available to him, and commenced campaigns directed against "barbarian" tribes in conflict with the empire. Ricimer achieved his first important victory in 456, when he defeated the Vandals in the Battle of Agrigentum and the Battle of Corsica. Although Priscus wrote that Avitus had sent him to Sicily to engage the Vandals, Hydatius states he defeated the Vandals near Corsica. After his Mediterranean victory, Ricimer was appointed by Avitus as "magister militum praesentalis", the commander of the Western Empire's field army in Italy and effectively the second-highest rank available to a general of the West.