Ministry of Defence police have confirmed three people breached security, but said they did not reach the submarines.

BBC correspondent Lisa Holland: There have now been 80 arrests

More than a dozen activists tried to get into the base in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

A spokesman for the protesters said that equipped with "disarmament tools" they had breached the outer circle of security at the base and reached a submarine berth.

Their say their aim was to reach the fleet of Trident submarines and personally disarm them.

Most of those arrested are thought to be from the peace group calling itself Trident Ploughshares 2000.

Britain's Trident submarines are based at Faslane

They have been involved in a number of demonstrations at the base during the last week which have so far resulted in up to 80 arrests.

The protests by the group is part of a programme of "non-violent direct action" aimed at "disarming" Trident.

Trident Ploughshares 2000 launched its current campaign on 11 August and have set up a Faslane peace camp outside the naval base.