And intervene he did.

From Castles of Steel by Robert K Massie. Page 31.

“Milne did his best to obey this stream of orders. On August 1, after receiving Churchill’s first message, he concentrated his fleet beneath the sand-colored limestone ramparts of the ancient fortress of Valletta at Malta. Early on August 2, when he received the Admiralty order saying that “Goeben must be shadowed by two battle cruisers” and the Adriatic “watched,” Milne dispatched his second in command, Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge, with Indomitable and Indefatigable, the four armored cruisers, the light cruiser Gloucester, and eight destroyers to guard the mouth of the Adriatic. But Admiral Souchon had already left the Adriatic. On August 2, Goeben and Breslau had been seen at Taranto by the British consul, who urgently reported the sighting to the Admiralty. Suddenly, a thought troubled Churchill and his colleagues in London. Told that the two German ships had left Taranto, they decided that Souchon was headed into the Atlantic to attack British trade. To counter this threat, Admiral Troubridge’s two battle cruisers were ordered to detach from his command and proceed westward at high speed “to prevent Goeben leaving Mediterranean.” At nine o’clock that night, Indomitable and Indefatigable left, heading for Gibraltar at 22 knots.

All this serves as an instance of technology challenging custom. In this case, radio. The Navy was accustomed to giving Admirals strategic directives for the Admirals to interpret given the circumstances they might encounter and which colud not be known by the Admiralty.

In this instance, Churchill, as the political master of the Navy, was unable to constrain himself and let the Amdirals do the sailing. With radio, Churchill could know information in near real time and could, therefore intervene in near real time. And intervene he did.