Why did kamikazes do little damage to the hull of the British carrier HMS Victorious?

British aircraft carriers suffered attacks from kamikaze suicide planes, and the Victorious was hit on 4 and 9 May and suffered a near miss on 1 April, but its armored flight deck withstood the worst of the blows. One of the aircraft crashed into the flight deck at frame 31, between the "B2" 4.5 in turret and the raised catapult. The 500 lb bomb it carried detonated at the junction of the 3 in and 1.5 in "D" quality deck plates.

The deck armor was 3 in (76 mm) thick. According to one witness account, a hole about three feet in circumference was left, which was patched with a steel plate and quick-drying cement, and aircraft were flying again a quarter of an hour later. The ship remained on station and was operational again within hours each time, despite damage to an aircraft lift and the steam pipes in its superstructure. Three men died and 19 crew members were wounded.

That same account describes how American carriers had wooden flight decks with a half-inch steel plate underneath, so that when a kamikaze struck the deck it would go straight through and often reach the hangar, where other aircraft were being armed or refueled, causing enormous explosions and fires.