Yeah, UEF navy right now has exactly one strength that matters: The short time after you get your first (rushed) BC out.
Technically, UEF navy is also the strongest in the super-lategame, where you have 15 BS and a million shield boats, but even if games go to that stage, you probably should have spend the mass on something more useful anyway.
And yes, just giving the uef destro more health is a good start, but also really doesnt matter if you just get outmicro'd by the other 3 factions.
That being said, giving the uef destro a "25% boost" may not be enough to make it viable against opponents that micro well, but may straight up make it op at the lower ranks at the same time, so it will need some fine tuning for sure