The steel wire rope is an important tool for power transmission, widely used, and its safe operation is crucial. Once an accident occurs, it will cause great personnel and property losses. Understanding its loss characteristics is important for the use and maintenance of steel wire ropes. This article conducts tensile, bending, twisting, and nondestructive testing on steel wire ropes that fail naturally during service. The experiment shows that the appearance damage is not severe, but the internal damage may be very serious. The damage to the inner and middle layers of the steel wire rope is more severe than that to the outer layer, mainly due to compression and scoring, with the outer layer experiencing more severe wear. The most severely corroded steel wire rope loses its ability to withstand torsional loads, while its ability to withstand tensile loads remains relatively well.