China (and everyone else) would know where each barge is all the time. They'd be ready to sink them—possibly with their own stealthy subs—within seconds of the

China (and everyone else) would know where each barge is all the time. They'd be ready to sink them—possibly with their own stealthy subs—within seconds of the order being given. Someone might even do "something dumb" and try to sneakily disable or steal one—you need a better way to respond to that than just "launch a few nukes at China and start World War Three".