“The issue is the elements are apparently tripping alarms on the ship because they are showing resistance to ground.”
Probably the circuit breaker (if they were using one instead of fuse) exceeded its maximum current carrying capacity because the rating of that “tubular heating elements” exceeded the rating of the circuit breaker. They could have solve the problem without replacing that “element” unless that “element” was already defective. I could tell you how but I don’t know the specs of that “tubular heating element.”