Admiralty telegrams and petty-officer escalation

Tomkinson asks London for facts and a decision, but the Admiralty cannot reply until evening because senior leaders are ill or absent. Its first response merely preserves existing rates through the end of the month and invokes service tradition; a second tells him to resume exercises after investigating. Those instructions do not acknowledge the scale of the proposed losses and make Tomkinson wonder whether he has failed to convey the crisis. Meanwhile Norfolk and Adventure join the essential-duties position, Dorsetshire and Hood appear likely to follow, and petty officers begin openly supporting the action. Their experience gives the strike firmer organization, though some may have joined to stop more radical individuals taking control. The delay and formulaic wording leave the grievance unanswered while more ships join the action.