The Brit carriers having armored flightdecks mitigated a lot of combat damage, but it also resulted in a smaller airwing. And, actually, it was the other way around: the RN rec’d very small allotments of aircraft predictable war. So they built ships where the precious aircraft could be better protected since they alone wouldn’t be enough to defend the ship if it were attacked.
The USN didn’t have a dedicated Air Force (like the RAF) restricting the number of aircraft it could buy. So went for the larger airwing which, in theory, would limit the risk of the ship getting hit by taking out any attacker first.
And, while the Brits did come up with the steam catapult, angled deck and fresnel landing system, they also had some real stinkers. Like rubber inflatable decks that allowed wheel-less belly landings.
Pre War. Not predictable war. I hate autocorrect ...