The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle widely regarded as the most important of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. It took place from June 4 to 7, 1942, about one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, five months after the Japanese capture of Wake Island, and exactly six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States Navy decisively defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll. Both sides suffered significant losses: four Japanese aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser were sunk in exchange for one American aircraft carrier and a destroyer. These losses permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy, especially in the loss of its four fleet carriers and more than 200 experienced naval aviators. Japan could not keep pace with American shipbuilding and aircrew training programs in providing replacements. By 1942, the United States was already three years into a massive shipbuilding program intended to make its navy larger than Japan's. As a result of Midway, the U.S. Navy was able to seize the strategic initiative in the Pacific and go on the offensive. Japan's plan had been to lure America's few remaining carriers into a trap and sink them while also occupying Midway Atoll to extend its defensive perimeter. The operation was considered preparation for further attacks against Fiji and Samoa, as well as an invasion of Hawaii. Like the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Midway operation was not part of a campaign to conquer the United States, but was intended to eliminate it as a strategic Pacific power and give Japan a free hand in establishing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. It was also hoped that another defeat would force the U.S. to negotiate an end to the Pacific War on terms favorable for Japan.