The Polyarny Museum of History and Local Lore presents a sculptural portrait of admiral Arseniy Grigoryevich Golovko created by Lev Yefimovich Kerbel, the famous Soviet sculptor. It was created in Polyarny during the Great Patriotic War, when Admiral Golovko, a great art connoisseur, saw the talent of Kerbel — who at that time served as a sailor — and commissioned a series of sculptural portraits of sailors and pilots — heroes of the war.

Arseny Golovko was born on June 23, 1906 in the village of Prokhladnaya in the North Caucasus. In 1925, Golovko was drafted into the Navy by the Komsomol direction. He started out as a sailor in the Baltic Sea. Soon the talented young sailor was enrolled into the Naval College which he graduated in 1928 and began serving on ships. He quickly rose through the ranks: 1928 — watch commander on the destroyer Frunze (Black Sea Fleet), November 1929 — navigator of a group of gunboats (Caspian Flotilla); in May 1931, after completing the advanced command staff courses, he became a divisional miner of destroyers (Baltic Fleet), and 10 months later he became a teacher of the Red Army Navy command staff courses. In January 1933, he was Chief of staff of the special purpose torpedo boat detachment, and then commander of the torpedo boat brigade of the Pacific Fleet.

In August 1936, Golovko entered the Naval Academy. He volunteered to participate in the Spanish Civil War, where he gained a great deal of combat experience. After returning to the USSR, Golovko continued his studies at the Academy. He commanded the Caspian and Amur flotillas. On July 26, 1940, he was appointed Commander of the Northern Fleet, which he headed throughout the war. In 1940, he was awarded the rank of Rear Admiral, in 1941 — Vice Admiral, in 1944 — Admiral.

The Northern Fleet under the command of Golovko participated in the defense of Murmansk and the entire Soviet Arctic, provided the escort of naval convoys in the North, in the Petsamo-Kirkenes offensive. In his twilight years, Golovko was the first Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd and 4th convocations. He made a great contribution to the construction of the Navy.