wfn217,
I seems to me that you are in the trouble of understanding the reason for full vacuum design of the vessel...Yes, if you remove the external jacket, you can/should design the vessel for the externally applied pressure, which in your case is the equivalent of full vacuum applied to the vessel. Please check the ASME code requirements for the vessel calculations subjected to internal and external pressure. It will instantly clarify why do you get different results applying the same pressure internally and externally.
Cheers,
gr2vessels