The First World War Royal Navy still carried Victorian habits

Why did conduct that might trigger a Second World War court martial sometimes go untried in the First World War?

Because the Royal Navy was still transitioning from a Victorian culture that was less willing to use courts martial toward the more formal Second World War system.

The First World War fleet was an institution midway between Victorian practice and the more formal accountability of the Second World War. The older service was reluctant to use courts martial in cases that a later navy might prosecute. Different disciplinary outcomes therefore reflect changing institutional culture as well as the facts of individual incidents.