I had read a comment from a veteran of the Graf Spee that they'd always considered the Hood to be their 'opposite number'. I guess both ships passed a lot 'showing the flag' during the inter-war years. I thought that was revealing in how the German Navy 'ranked' the panzerschiff. Says a lot about how they regarded Hood, too.
Hood was quite a bit faster than the German pocket battleships and outranged them. With those advantages, Hood should have been able to sink them handily. While well-enough protected to stand against any 10,000 ton 8" armed Treaty heavy cruiser, and heavily enough armed to sink same, they didn't have the speed to tangle with the later 30+ knot battlecruisers like Renown, Repulse or Hood.
I think the truth of the equivalence was that the ships could project power and clear the seas of London Treaty cruisers.