The usual causes of failure of marine transmissions are added natural weather factors, overboard water into the housing and improper crew actions in extreme conditions. The strength and stiffness of transmission elements can be assessed based on standards implementing generally accepted engineering methods, numerical modeling methods, and maritime registry rules. The wide range of causes for failures and the various assessment methods pose challenges when determining the root causes of accidents and evaluating the legal responsibilities of different parties involved, including the shipyard, ship-owner, and crew. In such circumstances, it could be discovered that employing heuristic methods becomes the sole means of resolving the problem. A specific case of accidents involving a number of rudder-propeller columns of identical design on various ships was considered. The cause of the failure was found using a heuristic method that combines a design structure matrix and a morphological matrix of damage.