The Poti class was the NATO reporting name for a group of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvettes built for the Soviet Navy. The Soviet designation was Project 204 small anti-submarine ships. Built in Khabarovsk, Zelenodolsk and Kerch, these 66 units were specialized in coastal anti-submarine control and cheaper than the class Petya or Mirka frigates. They had new D-2B gas turbines, giving them 35 knots, the best speed ever recorded by a Soviet ship of this type. Two propellers were mounted in tunnels to give a very shallow draught.

Anti-submarine weapons included four single-tube 400-mm torpedo tubes for SET-40 anti-submarine torpedoes and two RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launchers. The artillery weapons consisted only of a AK-725 twin automatic turret 57-mm gun with the Bars fire control radar. Air/surface situation was carried out with the help of the Rubka radar, and underwater - with the help of the MG-312 sonar.

These ships served on all four fleets of the USSR Navy: 17 on the Black Sea Fleet, 11 on the Pacific Fleet, 22 on the Baltic Fleet and 11 on the Northtern Fleet.

ASW corvette MPK-38 laid down 29 July 1963 at the Shipyard No.532, Kerch (yard No.814), launched 28 December 1964, commissioned 31 May 1965.

MPK-38 was decommissioned and excluded from the lists of the Black Sea Fleet on 19 April 1990 and scrapped.