Part of the idea is not to get hit - that in most of the situations in which these carriers are likely to be used, that they are unlikely to be attacked by a force that can damage them.
But, yes, if they are hit, damage control is an issue because of the crew numbers - the carriers will not be as likely to survive in such a situation as US carriers would be.
But what people have to remember, is that if the RN insisted on crew levels like those of the USN, the British Government would not have funded the carriers. It’s a political reality. The bottom line is the Royal Navy is more powerful with these carriers than without them - and to get them they had to be willing to come up with a way to have them with less people.
It’s better to have some capability in reality than to hold out for a theoretically better solution you’ll never get.
These Carriers don’t match US standards - but they are at least in the same ballpark again, for the first time in decades and should match anybody else in the world. As the UK is unlikely to find itself at war with the US, that’s not bad.
Another factor is ships company is always better trained at DC because they live there even in port back in CONUS. Getting DC quals done properly takes some time. Carriers are highly Air Conditioning dependent. On a carrier the AC&R shop alone would need 12 minimal to function. Without it you might as well not get underway because the electronics are going to go down. Nothing beats a well trained Roving watch to keep things going smooth. Rover has senses cameras do not.
The UK right now will be the U.S. condition in a couple more decades staying on the current political and military policy course.