How Renown and Hood threatened Japanese cruiser raiders

How serious a threat did the Renown-class battlecruisers and HMS Hood pose to Japanese heavy cruisers?

They were overwhelming in a normal one-on-one gun action; Japan needed several cruisers or a successful night torpedo ambush to reverse the odds.

Any one of Renown, Repulse, or Hood could probably destroy a single Japanese heavy cruiser comfortably in a conventional gun duel. Japan would need a pack of cruisers, or a successful torpedo ambush at night, to create a serious chance of defeating one. The British ship would also likely operate with Town-class cruisers instead of hunting alone. That escort context made distant surface raiding still less attractive than a simple one-on-one comparison suggests.