Police investigating unexplained death at Faslane nuclear submarine base

Royal Navy says it is aware of incident but can’t comment further at this stage

Detectives are probing the unexplained death of a Royal Navy Serviceman at a high-security nuclear submarine base in Scotland.

Police Scotland received reports at around 12.30pm on Thursday that a man had been found dead at HM Naval Base Clyde, known as Faslane.

The deceased's death is currently being treated as unexplained and a post-mortem is due to take place.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "A post-mortem examination will be carried out to establish the exact cause of death which is currently being treated as unexplained.

"A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal."

A Royal Navy spokeswoman said: "We are aware of an incident and cannot comment further at this stage."

Faslane is home to the UK's nuclear weapons system, known as Trident, and is located less than 30 miles from Glasgow.

Plans for the site were devised at the height of the Cold War in the 1960s as the UK sought to protect itself against the nuclear threat posed by the Soviet Union.

The UK government committed to an American-made Polaris system of weapons, carried by submarines, after first considering land-based air missiles.

Faslane is located on the northern shore of the Gare Loch, a sheltered sea loch that opens into the River Clyde.

It has remained the base for the UK's nuclear deterrent for over fifty years.

A British submarine, undetectable somewhere beneath the water, is armed with nuclear missiles and ready to respond to any attack.

The existence of the site on Scotland's west coast has proved controversial and attracts anti-nuclear weapons protesters.