Could distributed diesels improve battle-damage resilience?

Would a diesel power plant be more resilient to battle damage because its engines could be better compartmentalised?

Likely yes: each engine could occupy its own compartment, so losing one would reduce power rather than disable the whole plant, although shared gearing and shafts would remain vulnerable.

Multiple diesel engines can be distributed through separate machinery compartments rather than concentrated around one boiler-and-turbine plant. A hit that disables one engine would therefore remove only part of the ship's power. Shared gearboxes and shafts remain vulnerable, so the arrangement is not immune to mission-killing damage. Its advantage is graceful degradation, which matters especially to a long-range raider operating far from German repair facilities.