Yeah, that's never good...Best to keep them screened behind your cruisers and rush them out when the right moment presents itself.
If your that worried about armour 4, than 2 torp Dauntless would be better choice (would still favour the Cobras tho).
If you still want Escorts, how do you feel about Falchions? 5+ armour but a lower torpedo output. Never really tested them myself, but if your regular opponents use Chaos, keeping them loose and launching S1 torps to clear fighters earlier in a turn could pay dividends when launching from capital ships later on.