Limited access to operational equipment is a constraint on military training and a principal reason why alternative solutions for training, such as virtual environments (VEs), are needed. Limited access to operational equipment for training is a widely recognized problem that also limits, less obviously, conduct of the behavioral research required to determine training transfer from a VE to the real one. In this study, we assessed the training effectiveness of a VE by an indirect method that did not require access to the operational equipment and by a classic method, which made use of privileged access to a submarine. We wanted to explore an experimental method to help inform the interpretation of future behavioral studies on the training effectiveness of VEs when access to operational equipment is not possible. For these reasons, we conducted two experiments. The first employed a reverse transfer-of-training paradigm that used the VE for learning and evaluation and the second employed a forward transfer-of-training paradigm that used the submarine for learning and evaluation. Each experiment required navy personnel to complete an emergency drill, which involved isolation of a bulkhead within a submarine. Initial transfer-of-training and improvements with practice to criterion (i.e., error-free performance) were used to compare the performances of a trained group with a novice group in each experiment. Although the task is complex, involving procedural, mechanical, and spatial components, the outcomes reported here are for spatial learning only. We focus on this aspect of the task because many costly solutions have been sought to interface humans with VEs for tasks that involve locomotion within extended spaces. Both experiments yield evidence of positive training transfer and indicate that locomotion devices are unnecessary for effective training transfer. They also indicate that the results of a reverse transfer-of-training evaluation do not mirror forward transfer.